Straight knitting machine



TNESSES INVENTORS: 023% 21% Emil CI W" D Howar KI/Ve i CA a ca, BY WW 7 r T May 29, 1951 Eli BERGER 2,554,656

Sheet FICil- I via A TORNEYS.

May 29, 1951 BERGER STRAIGHT KNITTING MACHINE Original Filed Feb. 12,1948 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ITN SSES INVENTORSH Ezzzz'ZJBer e71" & HowamZK. est,

ATTORNEYS.

Patented May 29, 1951 STRAIGHT KNITTING MACHINE Emil J. Berger and Howard K. West, Lansdale,

Pa., assignors to Dexdale Hosiery Mills, Lansdale, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Original application February 12, 1948, Serial No. 7,807, now Patent No. 2,519,875, dated August 22, 1950. Divided and this application February 19, 1949, Serial No. 77,385

4 Claims. 1

This invention relates to straight knitting machines. Mcre specifically, it has to do with straight stocking knitting machines of the Cotton type designed for the commercial production of full fashioned hosiery and the like, the present application being a division of a prior application Serial No. 7,807 filed by us on February 12, 1948, which application is now Patent No. 2,519,875. In the operation of flat knitting machines of the kind referred to equipped withconventional yarn sinking instrumentalities, i. e. sinkers and dividers, the yarn, after having been kinked about the shanks of the needles, is subjected to considerable friction in riding down the sloped top edges of the nibs or tongues of these instrumentalities as they advance and recede incident to stitch formation by the needles. As a consequence, the yarns are often chafed and/or cut, especially if the edges of the nibs or tongues of the sinkers anddividers are rough or nicked.

The aim of the instant invention is to overcome the above drawbacks, thereby to enable operation of such machines at higher speeds and at the same time make possible the use of finer yarns than practicable heretofore in the knitting.

This objective is realized in practice, as hereinafter more fully disclosed, through provision of improved sinkers and dividers which are so configured that frictional action upon the yarn incident to stitch formation is greatly minimized, and the likelihood of chafing and/or rupture of the yarn thus substantially obviated.

In the attached drawings, Fig. 1 is a fragmentary view, in cross section, of a straight stocking knitting machine provided with sinkers and dividers conveniently embodying our invention.

Figs. 2-7 are views like Fig. 1 howing successive positions of the sinkers and dividers in relation to the needles during a stitch forming cycle of the machine.

Figs. 8 and 9 are fragmentary views in perspective, drawn to a larger scale and respectively showing the configuration of the front end portion of one of our improved sinkers and the front end portion of one of our new dividers.

With reference, first more especially to Fig. 1 of these illustrations, the numeral III designates the needle bar of the machine which carries an aligned series of upright hook needles I I. Arranged to cooperate individually with the needles to close their hooks during the knitting are cover points I2 which project from, and which are anchored in, a separate bar I3. Also cooperative with the needles is a series of the sinkers I5 and the dividers I6 with which our present invention is directly concerned, these being alternately arranged and guided for horizontal sliding movement at right angles to the needles in a fixed bed H. The usual longitudinally grooved catch bar for engaging the butts I5a and Ilia of the sinkers and dividers to actuate them is indicated at I8; and immediately below the sinker bed ll is a bar !9 provided with theusual complement of knockovers 20. The mechanisms forimpartin the required coordinated movements to the needle bar ID, the sinkers I5, to the catch bar I8 and to the knockover bar I9, may be of any approved construction, and the mechanism for actuating the needle hook cover point bar may be like that disclosed in the aforementioned prior patent application. For this reason it has been deemed unnecessary to illustrate or describe these various mechanisms herein.

The sinkers I5 are fashioned, as customarily in the art, as horizontally elongate blades from thin sheet material with straight parallel top and bottom edges I52) and I50, and with actuating butts I5a upstanding from their rear ends. In accordance with our invention however, each sinker is formed with a substantially straight.

upright frontal edge as best seen in "Fig. 8, having a shallow rounded yarn receivingthroat or notch I5d medially of its height, the portion I5e of said edge above the notch extending upwardly and forwardly at a slight angle to the vertical for the provision of an overhanging top nib I5f, and the lower portion l5-g of said edge below said notch being at a true perpendicular.

Each divider I6 is likewise struck from thin sheet material to horizontally elongate blade form with parallel top and bottom edges I61), I60, and with an actuating butt Ifia upstanding therefrom adjacent its rear end. The divider, however, difiers from dividers of the conventional type, in that it has a substantially vertical frontal edge (see Fig. 9) with a shallow yarn receiving throat or notch ltd medially of its height at a level corresponding to that of the notch of the sinker I5. Similarly here, the portion I6e of the frontal edge of the divider above the notch Ifid is inclined upwardly and forwardly at a slight angle to the vertical to provide an overhanging top nib I61, While the portion itg extends downward from the notch at a true perpendicular. The top edge of the forwardly projecting lower nib or tongue Ilih of the improved divider is horizontal instead of being sloped downwardly from the notch IBd as is the case with conventional dividers, and moreover, lies at a level well below said notch.

The stitch forming cycle of the machine with our improved sinkers and dividers is as follows:

Fig. 1 shows the beginning of the cycle, the yarn Y having just been laid to the fronts of the raised needles H below the needle hooks at the level of the notches d, [6d of the sinkers and dividers while these instrumentalitiesare fully retracted. In Fig. 2, the needle hooks covering points I2 have been moved downward of the fronts of the needles, and the sinkers l5 slurred to sink the yarn. Fig. 3 shows the dividers l6 advanced to finally apportion the yarn amongst the needles, and the points [2 pressed against said needles with their ends lodged in the grooves in the needle shanks so as to cover the hooks for retainment of the newly formed yarn loops L. In Fig. 4 the needles I I are shown as descending through the previously formed loops L' of the fabric Fon the knock-overs 20, while the sinkers and dividers are being retracted en masse. As the needles continue further in their descent and at the same time back away, the new loops L are removed from the throats of the sinkers and dividers and drawn down to the horizontal top edges of the tongues lfih of said dividers, concurrently with rise of the points Ill. The new loops L'eventually slip off the rounded ends of the divider tongues 16h incident to being drawn through the old loops L by the needles as shown in Figs. 5 and 6. Upon withdrawal of the points l2 from within the old loops L as in Fig. 7, the knock-overs 20 are advanced to feed the fabric F forwardly in the usual way.

It will thus be seen that, due to the novel construction of the sinkers l5 and dividers I6 in accordance with our invention, the friction to which the yarn is subjected during stitch formation is reduced to a very minimum, with conse quent preclusion of chafing and/or rupture. This is obviously advantageous in that finer yarns can be safely knitted with machines operating at a much higher speed than feasible heretofore.

Having thus described our invention, we claim:

1. A yarn dividing instrumentality for straight knitting machines having the form of a flat horizontally elongate blade with an actuating butt 4 at the rear end, a tongue with a horizontal top edge extending forwardly beyond a substantially vertical frontal edge, and a shallow rounded yarn receiving throat in said frontal edge at a level above the top edge of said tongue.

2. A yarn instrumentality according to claim 1, wherein the portion of the frontal edge above the notch extends upwardly and forwardly at a slight inclination to the vertical, and wherein the portion of said frontal edge below the notch is at a true vertical.

3. In a straight knitting machine, a series of needles, and a series of cooperative sinkers and dividers arranged in alternation and adapted to be moved at right angles to the needles in sinking yarn between them, each sinker having a substantially upright frontal edge with a medially-disposed shallow rounded yarn receiving notch, and such divider having a tongue with a horizontal top edge extending forwardly beyond a substantially upright frontal edge provided with a shallow rounded yarn receiving notch at an elevation above the top of the tongue at the level of the notches of the sinkers.

4. A yarn sinking instrumentality for knitting machines having the form of a flat elongate blade with an actuating butt at the rear end, and a substantially upright frontal edge with a medially-disposed shallow rounded yarn receiving throat, the portion of the frontal edge above the notch extending upwardly and forwardly at a slight inclination to the vertical, and the portion below said notch being at a true vertical.

EMIL J. BERGER. HOWARD K. WEST.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

Germany Feb. 14, 1933 

